House MDRevenge of the Sith Crossover
by Lord Hoth
Summary: Senator Bail Organa calls in a famous physician to consult on a very special case...
1. Chapter 1

_It is a dark time for the galaxy. Palpatine has declared himself Emperor and Jedi Knights across the stars have fallen under the merciless fire of Order 66. The two great heroes of the Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, ended their long partnership on the beaches of volcanic Mustafar. There, Kenobi left his once best friend to die, and with him died not only the galaxy's best hope, but also its worst nightmare . . ._

_Or so he thought._

_Now, the only hope lies in Skywalker's wife, Senator Padme Amidala and the lives she carries inside of her. Reeling from injuries sustained on Mustafar, Amidala lies in the medical ward of the remote asteroid mining colony of Polis Massa, as the last of the Jedi Knights desperately attempt to preserve the only hope for restoring freedom to the __galaxy . . ._

**CHAPTER 1**

POLIS MASSA

Floating on invisible repulsorlifts, the medical droid addresses its solemn audience, waving its mechanical appendages in gestures designed to mimic those of its makers. Its soft voice and human-like manner are designed to be reassuring. Unfortunately, there is little comfort in this for its present audience: two human males and a squat, green alien; one in elaborate finery, the other two in simple robes.

"Medically, she's completely healthy," the droid said in its soothing voice. "For reasons we can't explain, we're losing her."

"She's dying," Obi-Wan Kenobi repeated in shock. Kenobi's voice was softer than usual, missing its trademark confidence—the confidence of a man who knew that _everything was going to work out all right in the end_.

Kenobi had once believed that. Now, after what had happened in the past few days, he wasn't so sure.

In the blink of an eye, the galaxy had changed. Obi-Wan was used to this. But this time, his closest friend, his comrade, his brother . . . had changed with it. He had pronounced Obi-Wan his enemy. Had told him that he hated him. Had promised to kill him.

And come within a hair's breadth of carrying out that promise.

For the briefest of moments, balanced precariously on the walkways above the lava rivers, Obi-Wan had considered simply giving in and letting Anakin strike him down. Over the past few years, Anakin had been everything to him: a student, a son, then a brother. A friend he could always count on. One that was always at his side; when Anakin stumbled, Obi-Wan would steady him. When Obi-Wan stumbled, Anakin would throw him over his shoulder and get them both to safety, and may the Force be with anyone or anything that stood in his way.

Jedi had no possessions, and in his life, Obi-Wan had always believed himself prepared to sacrifice anything if the Force willed it. But he had never expected to have to give up Anakin.

_This is the end for you, my master._

If it had been up to Obi-Wan Kenobi, it would have been.

But in the end, Obi-Wan knew, like any Jedi, that it was the will of the Force, not his own, that mattered.

That knowledge, though, didn't take away that hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"We'll need to operate quickly if we're to save the babies," the med-droid, a GH-7 continued.

"Babies?" Obi-Wan repeated, noting the plural.

"She's carrying twins," the droid said.

The three biologicals nodded gravely and the GH-7, determining there was nothing more to say, hovered off.

"Delicate, her condition is," Master Yoda said, leaning on his gimer stick. "Careful we must be. These children, we cannot afford to lose."

"I agree," said Senator Bail Organa. "The medical staff here might suffice for the Polis Massans, but they are not near skilled enough for us to rely on completely."

Obi-Wan nodded, but remained silent.

"An idea, you have, Senator?"

"Yes, Master Yoda. I know of a doctor at the Aldera University Teaching Hospital. He's unconventional, but he's known as the best doctor on the planet. Possibly the whole sector."

"Unconventional, you say," Yoda repeated.

"Yes, Master. He's extremely eccentric. Some on Alderaan have even called him crazy. But he's the best. And I happen to know we can really on him for utmost secrecy."

"Mmmm," Yoda mused, his eyes half-closed. "A strange feeling, I have." He opened his eyes and regarded the younger Jedi. "What do you think, Obi-Wan? Call him, should we?"

Obi-Wan's gaze, which had been lost in infinity, turned to the transparisteel through which they could see Padme lying.

"Yes. Call him."

With a throaty whine, the _Theta_-class shuttle slowly descended to the surface of one of Polis Massa's asteroids. Bail Organa watched it with a slight sense of foreboding, though he couldn't be sure why.

The docking platform dropped to the ground and smoke hissed out of the bay. As the smoke cleared, the image of the visitor became clearly visible. A middle-aged humanoid male hobbled down the ramp, leaning on a cane. His brown hair was greying in spots, and his face was lined with stubble. Bail mentally calculated what time it was on Alderaan as he swiftly crossed the space to the bottom of the ramp.

"Doctor House," Bail said, shaking the man's hands vigorously. "I'm very honored that you came."

"Don't be too honored," the bass voice answered. "The HoloNet's been showing nothing but replays of the Declaration of a New Order. On every frequency. There was really nothing else to do."


	2. Chapter 2

Dr. Gregory House entered the Polis Massa medical complex, moving at a brisk pace despite his obvious handicap. Bail strode alongside him, trying to read the expression on the doctor's face. The Senator was exceptionally good at reading people, but House was a conundrum. His expression seemed to somehow convey equal parts of amusement and spite for everything around him.

"We greatly appreciate your consultation. The patient is a close personal friend of mine . . ."

"Fascinating," House cut him off, but continued walking. "But how about some other information? Background, medical history….you know, something I could actually use."

Bail was taken aback by the casual sarcasm. "The medical records are on file with the Senate. I could requisition them. But I don't think that would be wise."

House looked at him as though he had just turned into a Gamorrean. "Why not?"

Bail spread his hands. "This is why I told you on the comlink that it must be absolutely confidential."

"Right. Why you couldn't tell me any of her specifics. Just that it was a close friend."

"Yes, a …" Bail stopped short. "You said _her_. How did you know the patient was female?"

"Well, you told me it was a close friend. You also told me that the Senate had this friend's records on file. I'm assuming you wouldn't call me halfway across the galaxy under a cloak of secrecy to some hole-in-the-wall mining colony to treat one of your interns."

Bail's mouth was open.

House regarded him for a moment, amused, leaning on his cane. "Also, I don't follow what the Senate actually does anymore, since it pretty much does nothing these days. But I do follow the Rotunda soap opera. I know your close friends. I know most of them are females. A lot of them are babes, which is one reason I've always been proud to have you as a Senator." House grinned briefly but theatrically, then continued. "And if you called me way out here in the middle of nowhere, it's got to be someone radical, someone with reason to hide from our handsome new emperor." He took a breath, plainly taking pleasure in Bail's dumbfounded expression. "So who is it? Mon Mothma or Padme Amidala?"


	3. Chapter 3

Through the transparisteel, Bail and Obi-Wan watched the Polis Massans bustle around Amidala. Dr. House, for his part, had barely glanced at the young woman. He was staring at an ancient-looking white board, which had the Senator's symptoms scrawled on it with some sort of antiquated writing tool, which smelled strongly of its inks.

"Doctor House," Obi-Wan said with grave concern. "When are you going to examine her?"

"Oh, I dunno," House said without looking up. "Maybe if she develops a really cool symptom. Like epidermal warts. Anyone ever seen a really cool wart?"

"She's dying!" Obi-Wan exclaimed.

"Yes," House said. "I can see that from her charts. Are there anymore medical insights you'd like to share?"

Obi-Wan stared at him. "Aren't you even going to talk to her?"

"Why?"

"Maybe she can give you a better idea of what's wrong."

"_Everybody lies._ I'd be better off asking a Kowakian monkey lizard how to build a lightsaber like that." Hepointed in the direction of Obi-Wan's weapon.

Obi-Wan looked down at his belt, then jerked his head back up. He didn't want to look at his lightsaber right now. "Senator Organa, are you sure you have the right person?"

Bail's concerned expression now had a small beam of hope playing across it. "Yes, Master Kenobi. Dr. House is a distinguished personage on Alderaan. I've met him before at some society functions."

"I only go when there's sabacc. There you go, Master Kenobi. Unless you'd like to see my identification?"

"No," Kenobi said. "That's okay. So do you know what's wrong with her, then?"

House looked thoughtful for about a half-second. "We'll look at her symptoms. Low fever. Lots of sweating. And a big bulge in her tummy."

"Aside from the fact she's pregnant."

"Mommy's not experiencing any symptoms that are abnormal for her condition. The only way we know something's wrong is that all her major systems are slowing down. BP's crawling along like a swamp dragon on dry land. Her heart's crawling. Kidneys are failing."

"Then the droid is right. She's lost the will to live."

"Losing the will to live doesn't kill you. It just makes you a quitter. A quitter can't quit unless she has something to fight. We've got to find out what that something is."

"How do we find out?"

"We need an MRI. Find out if there's anything impeding circulation that might be causing the organ failure."

"How long will that take?"

House poured a few pills from a tiny container in his hand and knocked them back. "Too long. At this rate of decline, she'll be dead in less than an hour."

"So, we operate to save the babies," Bail said slowly.

"Nope. They're probably oxygen and nutrient-deprived as we speak. The trauma will kill them."

All stared wide-eyed at the casual pronouncement.

"That's why," House said. "We're going to freeze them in carbonite."

"Carbonite?" Obi-Wan Kenobi blinked in shock.

"Yes. Carbonite. When something is immersed in liquid carbonite, then flash-frozen, it will preserve that something in is current state. Indefinitely."

"Carbonite is used for chemical transport," Obi-Wan said. "Not living beings."

"There have been several trials where carbonite was used successfully used to impose cryostasis," House said impatiently.

"Several," Bail said. "Does not mean all."

"If you put her in carbonite," Obi-Wan said. "It might kill her."

"And if we don't, it'll definitely kill her. As well as her little bundles of joy." He paused, regarding his solemn audience. "It's a tough choice, I know. Maybe we should sit around and meditate on it for awhile."

Yoda spoke for the first time. "Right, the Doctor is. Their only chance this is. Act quickly we must."

House squinted briefly. "I'm thinking that was a yes."

Obi-Wan nodded gravely.


	4. Chapter 4

A dozen, white-masked Polis Massan techs, each only a little taller than Yoda, bustled around, preparing the carbon-freeze chamber.

House limped in. "This facility is crude. But it should be adequate to stop Mommy from giving up on us before we figure out what's wrong."

Obi-Wan couldn't contain it anymore. "How can you be so callous?"

House looked at him, widening his eyes in mock surprise. "A Jedi Knight is asking me how I can be so unfeeling? Isn't that what you people do? Are you asking for pointers?"

Obi-Wan sighed and turned away.

House stared at his back for a moment. "Your powers come from objectivity. So do mine."

The Polis Massans pushed Padme's bed into the chamber. It floated on silent repulsors toward the edge of the pit. The sulfurous smell of liquid carbonite filled the room.

Amidala was strapped securely to her bed. She did not move as the Polis Massans adjusted the repulsors to move her bed into an angle above the pit.

The sights and smells were overwhelming. Obi-Wan was at the Amidala's side before she started crying.

"Save your energy," he said quietly. "Don't give up, Padme."

The Senator only wailed louder.

House rolled his eyes and, without warning, began hobbling over to where she lay, suspended above the pit.

Padme's eyes fixed blankly on him.

"Senator Amidala. I'm Dr. Gregory House. We're going to freeze you in carbonite so we can have more time to diagnose you."

"Don't," Padme croaked.

House looked at her with clear impatience—whether real or feigned, one couldn't be sure--and shifted his weight off of his cane. "I know you don't want to live. Under the circumstances, who could blame you? You've gained all this weight and you're not sure you'll be able to lose it. Nubian starships are way out of style. Oh, and the government you've dedicated your life to has gone to crap. Things are bad. But they could be worse." He paused, smacking his lips thoughtfully. "I think what's really bothering you is that your husband left you, and now life's just not worth living anymore. Is that it?"

Padme stared at him.

"Yeah, I get it. Liberty's dead, and so is your marriage. There's absolutely nothing left to live for. Except…whoa, what's that?" House looked at her belly, as if noticing the bulge for the first time, his eyes widening in mock surprise. He tilted his head and gestured at her belly with his cane. "Now I'm just a doctor. But to me, that looks like you might have a baby in there. Maybe two. _Two_ good reasons to live."

Padme shook her head. Then she spoke, strained and hoarse. "Better—off—without…"

"Oh yeah. All children are better off without their moms. Nobody to make them eat their vegetables. Or to put unreasonably high expectations on them. Tear down their self-esteem. No one to go on a talk show and blame all their problems on in thirty years. Totally makes them better people."

Padme only stared at him.

"But hey, don't worry. You can give them to these monks here. I'm sure they'd be thrilled. I bet the little green guy would make a great dad. The kid might grow up to have pointy ears and talk funny, but eventually the teasing will die down."

Padme looked to be attempting to form a response, but House continued. "I'm sure when your kids ask, the monks will tell them that Mommy was a brave soul who sacrificed her life to save some little Rodian orphans. But when they come to me for checkups, and they ask me what I remember about Mommy, I'm not gonna lie to them." House turned to one side and artificially deepened his voice_. "Well, kids, your mommy had a nice bod in the holos of Geonosis, and she could fire a blaster like nobody's business. _She saved her whole planet from the Trade Federation and fought against all the corrupt scumbags in the Senate Arena. But when push came to shove, I guess she just wasn't brave enough to raise two little younglings by herself."

Obi-Wan stepped forward and put a hand on his arm. "Doctor House, that is quite enough."

Bail gestured hastily, and the techs initiated the controls that began to lower Padme into the pit.

"You don't understand," Amidala said, her voice sounding as distant as if she was in another galaxy. As she descended into the pit, she only continued to stare at House, blankly and sorrowfully. Obi-Wan detected no change in her demeanor.

House looked as though he was about to say something else, but then he blinked his eyes and looked off to the side thoughtfully. In a moment, Amidala sank completely into the pit and liquid carbonite poured into it. Smoke rushed up and there was a hiss like a pack of angry Togorians as the chamber cooled.

A moment later, the chamber produced a large block of solid carbonite. Bail went to the control panel and observed the readout.

"They're alive," he announced with relief. "And perfectly preserved."

"Good," House said. "I hate it when my senators go bad." With that, he turned and hobbled out of the room.

Bail followed after him. "Dr. House, while I know that your medical expertise is indispensable and irreplaceable, I don't really see how insulting the patient accomplished anything."

"It didn't," House agreed. "And I didn't think it would. But it was worth a shot."

"And what shot was that?" Obi-Wan, close behind them, asked. "Tearing down her self-esteem until she did whatever you asked?"

"Yeah. Something like that."

**T**he GH-7 met them in the hallway. "Doctor House," it said in its completely calm electronic voice. "I feel obliged to inform you that your carbonite treatment goes against all of my medical protocols. Unless you provide me with an article in a current medical journal that espouses the safety of this procedure, I'm afraid I'll have to report you to the Republic Medical Ethics Committee."

"GH-7, you can't do that," Bail protested. "Our patient's case is of utmost secrecy. No one in the government must know about her."

"My pledge to confidentiality is overridden by the wanton risk in your experimental treatment. You have put the patient in danger and activated my safety protocols. I'm afraid I'll have to put in a call to Coruscant immediately."

"You can't do that," House said.

"Why not?"

"Because," he said, tapping his cane on the floor rhythmically. "The Republic Medical Ethics Committee no longer exists. It was a function of the Medical Corps, which the Emperor dissolved with his Declaration of a New Order. There's no one to report to, therefore you'd be wasting your time."

GH-7's lights flashed for a few seconds before he answered. "Queries of current databases indicate your assertion is correct. The Medical Corps has been dissolved, so I cannot file a report. In that case, I await your instructions."

Again, Bail's mouth involuntarily opened, joined by Obi-Wan's.

"MRI her heart and kidneys. We're gonna track down every one of those dirty little obstructions and make them pay."

"We cannot inject her with contrast agents while she's frozen," the droid pointed out.

"Very true," House said. "Good thing I had one of the short guys give her the contrast agents before she got made into a sculpture."

The droid bobbed on its repulsors, seeming to process this information.

House raised his eyebrows. "Are we ready to rock now?"

The robot clucked, whirred, and sped off down the corridor.


	5. Chapter 5

House sat in his quarters on the asteroid, twirling his cane, lost in thought. With a _whoosh_, the transparisteel door slid aside, and Obi-Wan and Bail entered the room.

"Dr. House," Bail said. "The medtechs have the results from the MRIs. They've identified two clots near the heart, and one in the kidneys."

Organa handed House a tiny holoproj and he activated it, producing a 3-D rendering of Amidala's MRIs. "From the positioning of these clots, I'd say they started in the heart. The one near the kidneys is probably an embolus." He looked back at his visitors. "A clot that broke away and became free-flowing. Migrated down and caused the kidney failure."

"So what caused the clots?" Bail asked.

"Given that they started in the heart, the probable cause is cardiac arrhythmia. Which we can treat after we get rid of the clots. As soon as she comes out of the carbonite, we'll be ready with the anticoagulants. Those clots will never know what hit 'em." He put the cap on his marker. "Okay. Anybody have any bad feelings about this?"

Bail and Obi-Wan shook their heads.

"Great. Call RoboDoc and tell him to bring the Heparin." He squinted briefly. "Where's the little green guy?"

"Meditating," Obi-Wan said.

"Too bad. He'll miss the party."

With a sound that was an odd mixture of humming and squeaking, the mechanism on the slab slowly thawed the alloy. The carbonite mold of Amidala's grief-stricken visage gave way to her actual face, and she let loose a subdued sigh.

At that very moment, GH-7's multiple arms were injecting Heparin into calculated positions near the senator's clots. He removed the syringes simultaneously, with mechanical smoothness and floated back.

Minutes later, Obi-Wan was at her side. "How do you feel?"

Padme shook her head.

GH-7 finished taking readings. "Heart rate is back to normal. Kidneys are functioning again."

"You should be feeling better soon," Obi-Wan reassured her.

The Jedi Master patted her arm, then noticed something odd. An odd discoloration…a rash had developed on her forearm. He was about to tell the med-droid, but was startled by the sound of alarms blaring. He looked back to see Padme's body shaking uncontrollably. The droid was at her side at once, taking readings. His viewscreen suddenly shifted to show her brain waves, spiking wildly.

"She's having a seizure," GH-7 said. "I'm administering an anticonvulsant. Inform Dr. House immediately!"


	6. Chapter 6

Obi-Wan returned to the doctor's quarters. Senator Organa had gone to get some sleep and Yoda was still locked away, deep in meditation.

"Okaaay," House said, scrawling on his white board. "So we thought we'd hunted down and defeated all the troublemakers. But apparently we have more. In her brain."

"If there were clots in her brain," Obi-Wan said. "Shouldn't the Heparin have taken care of them as well?"

"Very good. It should have. And it did. But while it did its job purging the clots, it also aggravated a problem we didn't even know existed."

"And what's that?"

"Intercranial hemorrhaging. She's bleeding through her brain, which is what caused the seizures. The Heparin made it worse. The question is, what caused the bleeding in the first place?"

Obi-Wan could only shrug. He felt helpless

House stared off into space for what seemed like an eternity, then turned and looked at the Jedi. "You may as well get some sleep. From here on out, it's my territory."

**H**ouse sat in his quarters, surrounded by holographic images of Amidala's medical data, playing with a yo-yo. As Obi-Wan entered the room, he noticed the far-off look in the doctor's eye.

"I can't sleep," Obi-Wan informed him. "What have you come up with?"

"Nothing that explains all the symptoms," House answered. "Unless the clots and the hemorrhaging were unrelated. Had she suffered any cranial trauma?"

Obi-Wan's face fell considerably, but he nodded. "On Mustafar. When she fell down after…"

House's expression suddenly focused, as if noticing Obi-Wan for the first time. He regarded the Jedi for a moment, then said, "Master Kenobi, can I ask you a personal question?"

"I suppose."

House leaned back in his chair. "Now I know you can't believe everything you see on the HoloNet. But during the war, I seem to remember hearing a lot about you and someone named Skywalker."

Obi-Wan nodded. "He was my apprentice, and later my peer. We fought together in several battles."

"Several battles is a bit of an understatement. You were together through almost the whole war. You were The Team. The Dynamic Duo. The HoloNet couldn't get enough of you. You were winning the war by yourselves, by all reports."

"The HoloNet does tend to exaggerate."

"Of course they do. What I'm wondering about is how you seem to be very emotionally involved with the case of Senator Suicide in there. That's not normal for a Jedi, is it?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "It shouldn't be, no."

House did two drops of his yo-yo, staring at the ground.

"Dr. House, you're not the type to wonder. You have a theory."

"Very astute, Master Jedi. You're right. Here's how I see it….media sensationalism aside, it's a lesser known fact that soldiers who fight in wars together develop a bond closer than brothers. And aside from all those pod-people out there—who, it seems to me, would just as likely shoot _at_ you as for you—there's only one person I can figure Obi-Wan Kenobi would call his brother. A person who might have been driven just a little crazy after three years of clone wars. A person who might just have lost it and tried to kill his pregnant wife."

Obi-Wan folded his arms, but he couldn't find it in himself to be angry at the seemingly easy insight. "What are you getting at, Doctor?"

Apparently, that was as good as confirmation for House. "So your best friend in the whole galaxy went nuts. Seeing as how he's a Jedi, you probably had to take care of that. So you blame yourself for raising a homicidal maniac. I can understand that. What I can't understand is this. Why keep torturing yourself? The senator wasn't your wife. Part of your training to little Anakin probably wasn't, '_How to choke-slam conniving baby-mommas on the ground_.' Why keep blaming yourself?"

Obi-Wan turned his head to one side, chewing on his lip.

House's voice was softer, but the tone remained blunt and matter-of-fact. "Surely they teach you better than that in Jedi school. They certainly do in medical school. Sometimes you make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes cost people their lives."

"I suppose," Kenobi said, stroking his beard. "I'm just not accustomed to watching the results of my mistakes lie there and scream in pain."

"Unlucky you," House said. "Mine do all the time. Just hope you never have to get accustomed to it."

House turned back to his holograms and resumed his yo-yo'ing. Obi-Wan stared at the disheveled man and for the first time, reached out to feel him in the Force. He felt the bright, sharp edges of an impossibly keen intellect, but also the shadowed corners where he kept his pain. In a flash, he understood. There was not only a method; there was also a motivation to his madness.

The man was brilliant, as Senator Organa had claimed.

But he was also miserable. Just like Obi-Wan was now.

The difference was, House had grown used to dealing with his demons. Obi-Wan wondered if he himself ever would.

"There's something else," House said, seeming to drift back to the present. "Something we're missing."

"Oh." Obi-Wan shook his head. "I forgot to tell you. The rash."

"The rash?"

"Just before her seizure, I noticed a rash on her arm."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"It slipped my mind," Obi-Wan said.

House resumed his far-off look for a moment, then his eyes brightened. "She was right," he mused. "I didn't understand." Suddenly, he was on his feet and hobbling through the door.

Kenobi followed him out and down towards Padme's room. "Didn't understand what?"

"Hey, Sparky!" House called to the med-droid. "Set your photo receptors to computed tomography and get in there."

"What's going on?" Obi-Wan asked as he reached the doctor's side.

House spoke as they walked. "Biologically, females of mammalian species are conditioned to care for their helpless infants, spiting even their mate. The act of mating is complete; the next generation is her primary concern. But not for the senator. Something changed in her brain. Something that made a normally brave and strong-willed woman surrender faster than a naked Neimoidian."

House entered Amidala's room and stood by the bedside. "It's not a rash. She's bleeding into her skin."

"What?"

GH-7 floated in dubiously.

"Scan her arm," House ordered.

The droid complied and computed the results. "Purpura," it said, sounding surprised, even for a droid.

"Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura," House said to Obi-Wan. "Can be set off by hormonal changes like the kind that go on during pregnancy. Blood clots like crazy, like we saw, causing the organ failures that we saw. It also causes fever and neurological symptoms. Symptoms like a drastic change in personality. Or an inexplicable loss of the will to live."

House turned back to GH-7. "Get those kids out. Then start plasmapheresis. Purge her blood of the nasty stuff."

For a moment, the gloom in the Force lifted and Obi-Wan felt hope again. "She's going to live, isn't she?" A hint of a smile crossed his face. "You're going to save her."

House looked at him dubiously. "Who knows? If General Obi-Wan Kenobi can single-handedly save the entire planet Muunilinst, then anything's possible."


	7. Chapter 7

Three men stood somber, staring through transparisteel. One was garbed in elaborate finery. Two were leaning on canes.

A fourth man stood on the other side of the transparisteel. He was holding a baby.

Holding a new life, and watching as another life was slowly fading.

One didn't have to be a Jedi Master to see what was happening. One didn't have to be a perceptive Senator, skilled at reading people. One didn't even have to be a brilliant physician.

It was plain to see.

"If only she would have held on until the treatment was complete," Bail said.

House stared at his reflection through the transparisteel, feeling, for the first time in a long time, something like failure.

Something shifted, and the doctor looked down. Next to and below his reflection was the image of a tiny green alien, with pointy ears. A much older creature on a much older cane.

"Fail, you did not," Master Yoda said. "To death, the Senator had already resigned herself. Her life, prolong you did…long enough so that her children could survive."

"You could have gotten the twins out before her body shut down completely," House said. "They probably would've been okay."

"No," Yoda said, squinting his eyes. "Right you were. Killed them, the trauma would. Saw it, I did."

House raised his head and rested his gaze on Obi-Wan and the baby he held in his arms. "It doesn't matter. The case is solved. I should be heading back home now."

Bail Organa smiled and again enveloped the not-quite-willing doctor's hand in a vigorous shake. "I'll be making a substantial donation to the Aldera University Teaching Hospital. Your help in our time of need will not soon be forgotten."

House nodded, managing a half-smile.

**T**he doctor limped out of the Polis Massan complex, heading toward the outstretched docking platform of his shuttle. He started at the sound of a voice from behind him.

"Hope you have given," Master Yoda admonished him. "Many more lives have you saved than just two. For this, happy you should be."

"I'll throw a party when I get home," House called to him, not breaking stride.

"Mmmm," Yoda mused to himself, watching as the doctor ascended the ramp. "Never happy will you be. But grateful am I. That, enough is."


	8. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

_TEN YEARS LATER_

A little girl sits in a sterile room, waiting patiently and watching curiously as an elderly doctor listens to her heart.

"Okay." The doctor lowers the end of stethoscope and removes the earpieces from his head. "Everything sounds good. Now, we're gonna check your reflexes." The doctor reaches for a tiny hammer.

"Doctor?" the little girl says.

The doctor raises his eyebrows. "What?"

"Did you know my mother?"

"Well, I think everyone on this planet knows your mother, dear."

"No, not her. I'm adopted, you know."

"Ooohh, you are. Well, that's a swamp dragon of a different color then."

"Uh-huh." The girl cocked her head to one side. "So, did you know my mother?"

The old doctor stares into the little girl's inquisitive eyes as he raises the hammer . . .

"No."


End file.
